Town elders, who act as judges in local criminal matters, are invariably men. In one village in Guerrero state, elders were recently asked how they punished rape. The six men looked confused, as if they did not know what the term meant. When it was explained to them, they all laughed and said it sounded more like a courting ritual than a crime.
When they stopped laughing, they said a rapist would probably get a few hours in the local jail, or he might have to pay the victim's family a $10 or $20 fine, but that all would be forgotten if he and the victim married.
In the case of a cattle thief, they said, he would be jailed. And, unlike the rapist, a cattle thief would be brought before the elders for a lecture about the severity of the crime.
2006-09-15
11:41:53
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26 answers
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asked by
Zoe
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